“The Biden administration has continued the practice of marginalizing Black-owned media by denying our firms access to advertising dollars to speak directly to our audience during the height of a public health crisis. Despite the administration’s declaration of embracing racial equity, it has engaged in business as usual by using the same advertising agencies that dismiss the value of Black media and refuse to do business with us. In this case, they are engaging in systemic discrimination in a process that involves taxpayers’ dollars,” stated Earl “Butch” Graves Jr., the president and CEO of Black Enterprise.
An estimated $35.616 million or 16.8% was targeted to reach the African American community although the amount spent with Black media was only around $11.9 million or 5.6%. The advertising included various roll outs including newspapers, websites, radio stations, local out-of-home vendors and digital billboards. The advertising dollars were allocated to roughly 100 companies and $119,000 was given to each of the companies to use. Although we are now in a digital age, the majority of funds were allocated to local Black-owned newspapers, which has a circulation hovering around 30,000, according to Pew Research.
